Hungarian Church Press, 1957 (9. évfolyam, 14-15. szám)

1957-12-31 / 15. szám

IiCHP XII, 31,1957, Vol, Tä/15-16

186- 8 -tunately, bo so Confidently dismissed... It is known that strong pressures have been brought on individual missionaries end mission boards to place their information at the disposal of our intelligence services,., c Some missionaries and cone mission boards in some instances have responded to such appeals. This is a matter which has been discussed, almost in whispers, behind the dosed doors of many missionary Tjodie SoM- .And this only confirms what h^c been said by the Rev. John biggins as early as 1888 in his book: "The Great Value and success of Foreign .Missions"

to the effect that missionaries "have often offered to the Government and to its offioiers information which could not have been so well obtained otherwise".- Frank and frightening statements such a3 those quoted can be given at much greater lengths. They have been uttered, often with great pride, by leaders and authorities in missionary circles, From these statements alone, we can realize how great the benefits of missions have been to imperialism. Consequently, all those who are just-minded cannot but conclude that colonialism has made use

of missions.- The use »imperialism makes of religion, is not limited to the past years,. The hostile attitude towards New China and the Churches of New China on the part of certain leaders of the World Council of Churches, as shown, for instance, by the insulting speech on China by a bankrupt American "expert" on our country at the Svanstai Assembly and the op>enly pro-imperialist political stand.

The use which imperialism makes of missions and other Chi.trch activities has grea,tly blemished the Church.- The people in China naturally came to regard the Church e,s a tool of imperialism, an enemy agent harmful to the welfare of China.» The Church became isolated fron the people, and badly disabled to bear the Christian witness to them. We became foreign to our people not because of the scandal of the gospel but because of the political scandal of the missionary enterprise. Therein lies the real "failure of the mission", The mission in China failed not in 1949 when the:

People*’s Republic was established, but right from the beginning when it allowed itself to be component pe.rt of the imperialist movement for world aggression.- Witness becomes a reality only in the relation of love, There can be no communication of the message of love outside of that relation. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, It takes a Revolution in China for Christians to know it as cancelling truth, In the past, under missionary influence, Chinese Christians were up-rooted from the life and culture of Chinn, Today, on the contrary, we are lovers of our country, whereas in our motherland exploitation of man by man has been done away with and all our policies end codes of law are permeated with the humanitarian concern for man’s welfare. We - in this society - with tlianksgiving respond to God’s cadi to bear witness to Christo

The Three-Self Movement- Its purpose is to undo the damage, their past imperialist connections have caused thcm<, The Church in China is to become truly itself. We affirm ecumenicity and our unity in Christ with Christians elsewhere, butt our experience, of the last 150 years has taught us that to be interdependent, we must first be independent. and being, itseIf is prec< ndition to being a part. And" unity, to be true, must Sc" based not only on a common profession of faith but also on our common obedience in making costly, responsible choices in regard to momentous ethical issues history is advancing before us3 Any "unity" earned at the expense of dividing between the right and wrong is nyt worthy of true ecumenicity,